


Upside-down Clapperboard

by masked



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Actor Charlie, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Humour, LARPing, Mutual Pining, Sensual popcorn tasting, Sharing a Bed, Uesless Lesbian Charlie Bradbury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 20:10:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20233681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masked/pseuds/masked
Summary: Charlie Bradbury is not one to let criticism bother her. It comes with being the main star of the network’s most popular showSpace Princess Odyssey, and she’s not worried about haters being haters. Whatever.No, what bothers her is thatapparentlypeople think she has no chemistry with her romantic interest and even the best writers can’t save her onscreen relationship from feeling forced.ApparentlyTwitter has Opinions™ about her acting skills.Apparently, for once… they might just be right.With her professional ego bruised and determined to polish her skills, Charlie asks for help from her best friend Jo Harvelle to coach her on the ways of being in love by being her pretend-girlfriend. Obviously this is the only solution to the situation and Jo, being the bestest friend that she is, is obviously more than happy to help.Obviously.





	Upside-down Clapperboard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clotpoleofthelord (plantainleaf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantainleaf/gifts).

> This is my Fandom Trumps Hate 2019 offering for the lovely [Lis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantainleaf/pseuds/clotpoleofthelord). Thanks for making the world a better place to live in. I had a blast with this one!
> 
> Beta'ed by the wonderful [contemplativepancakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/contemplativepancakes). Thank you so much for your great feedbacks!! Any remaining mistakes are mine.

There was a roar in Odyssey’s ears as she rested in her tent. Tomorrow was the big day where she would fight against the biggest baddest mofo she'd ever fought yet, and she was ready to look up to the face of death with her Destiny sword in one hand and her most trusted, beloved best friend’s hand in the other.

But for now… This could be the last private moment they shared together before all the evil shit went down. Starlight, her best friend, entered the tent. Odyssey looked up from polishing her Destiny sword and stood up.

“Starlight,” said Odyssey.

Starlight smiled. “Yeah?”

Odyssey gulped. “You’ve been by my side all this time through everything.” Redundant. Everyone knew that. “But what we’re about to face, it’s nothing like what we’ve faced before.” Everyone knew that too. “You could be hurt.”

Well, duh. She _just _said that they were about to face something completely new. That was some anvil-sized foreshadowing, wasn’t it?

Starlight shook her head with disapproval. “I’m tougher than your entire squadron combined, Princess.”

Odyssey groaned, feeling desperate. She was supposed to be desperate. Probably.

“I know that. That’s not what I’m worried about. If there’s even a chance of you…” And, right. Um. She loved her. She was her best fighter after all. She steeled her shoulders and looked at her with determination to convince her. “Look, I can’t lose you.”

Starlight stared at her. A beat. Two beats. And—

“_Cut!_”

Charlie sighed, her shoulders slumping. The silence that usually blanketed the rest of the crew in the middle of filming a scene lifted, and a small comfortable buzz settled over them instead. This was already their fourth take for just this _scene_—which, fine, it was supposed to be this huge important emotional scene and they were really aiming for perfection here. The problem here was that Charlie wasn’t delivering it.

Charlie wrinkled her nose down at her Destiny sword. Starlight—aka Dorothy—patted her arm with a pitying smile. “Hey, that wasn’t too bad.”

“Uh huh,” Charlie muttered. She wanted to pull at her hair and just _scream _or, or _something_. She walked over to the director behind the cameras, most likely replaying the scene they just filmed. “Olivia?”

The director slid her headphones off. “Charlie. Hey.”

“How was that?” Charlie peered over the director’s shoulder to the monitor. “Anything you can salvage?” she joked, even if she was freaking out a tiny bit. _Fourth _take, her head replayed mockingly, and she angrily shoved the thought aside.

Olivia started to say something, gathered her thoughts, and started again. “It wasn’t bad.”

Charlie waited.

“But maybe—” Olivia chewed on her lips with a slight frown. “Maybe it’s time we call it quits for today.”

“What?” Charlie’s stomach dropped. God knew she wanted this stupid _stupid _scene gone but her professional pride wouldn’t let her agree. “Are you serious?”

Olivia sighed. “We still have a month or two before we have to release this episode. Maybe we can come back to this scene later.”

“But…”

Seeing whatever expression Charlie was wearing, Olivia hurriedly added, “Look, you’re a fantastic actor. Everyone here knows that. But we all have those days when we feel, you know.” Olivia carefully searched for the right word. “Off.”

Charlie groaned. “This isn’t because of those stupid articles, is it?”

“You know I don’t believe half the things those bozos say,” Olivia said gently. “Nobody else in the world is more fit for this role than you.”

“But?”

“But I think you can do better.” Olivia patted her shoulder. “Maybe not today. You’re way too stiff. Get some rest and we’ll try again another time.”

Charlie squished down the voice that was about to complain how she already _was _doing her best. She’d reached max level here. She was just… doing exactly what the script was telling her to do.

“Olivia, I can do this,” was what Charlie said instead. “Just give me another chance.”

Olivia massaged her temple with a sigh. She looked around the rest of her crew who was as exhausted as her from filming all day and at the determined look in Charlie’s eyes, and made a decision. “Alright. Charlie, one more try and we’re moving on.”

Charlie nodded. She took a big breath as she walked back into the scene.

She wasn’t going to screw it up this time.

* * *

Jo took one look at her face and asked, “What’s got your panties in a twist?”

Charlie mournfully looked up from her phone, and her heart lifted slightly at seeing Jo. Charlie wordlessly turned her phone around and showed Jo the needlessly hateful commentaries on twitter about the supposedly intimate scene between Odyssey and Starlight in past episodes of _Space Princess Odyssey_ that was supposed to build up to the big reveal of their relationship. Jo’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher as she read on about how fans thought Charlie’s acting in the scene had ‘the emotional range of a cardboard box’.

“Why am I looking at this again?” Jo finally asked.

Charlie slammed her iced coffee down, splattering droplets everywhere. “Can you believe this? They called me bland. Me. _Bland_.”

Jo stirred her coffee with a stir stick as she hummed. “You know these are just twitter assholes acting up, right?”

“Yeah, but if I had better chemistry with Starlight, they wouldn’t even be able to talk shit about it.”

“You’re being unfair to yourself.”

“Yeah. Well.” Charlie sipped at her drink with fury that was just as hot, and it was good and sweet and delicious enough that it quelled her anger from having thought about the articles that just poured more oil on the fire, so to speak. She wrinkled her nose at her cup. “I could make love to this _coffee _if I wanted to.”

Jo huffed. “Making love and being in love are two different things.”

“Jo! You’re supposed to _defend _me.”

Jo shrugged with a grin.

Charlie narrowed her eyes. “You watched these episodes, right?”

“Yep.”

“What did you think?” Charlie waved her phone in front of them. “Are they right?”

“Of course not.”

“Really?”

They stared at each other for some time before Jo conceded defeat and leaned back with a sigh. “Look, you’re a really good actor. Sometimes I don’t even recognize you on TV.”

Charlie touched her recently cut hair. “Is it the hair?”

Jo rolled her eyes with a smile. “Obviously a lot of these people are angry that you got together with Starlight instead of… who was it, your other command-in-arm?”

“Mars?”

“Yeah, him. These people are just a bunch of homophobic dicks."

"Ugh."

"Yeah, ugh. And you’re not the only one who should be responsible for putting queer rep out there.”

“But?” Charlie leaned forward and Jo leaned away as a response. “Jo, I love you, you’re my best friend, and if anyone gets to tell me I suck, it’s you. Be honest. Please?”

Jo considered her eager eyes. “You want the straight truth?”

“Well, maybe not the _straight _truth,” Charlie said, momentarily gleeful for the opportunity. Jo half-groaned and half-sighed. “But yeah, the truth.”

Jo shook her head fondly. She stared intently at her coffee some more while she chewed her lips and thought about how to word things properly. She finally said, “I think you think you know what being in love looks like and… You’re following a, a script on how to be in love.”

“Dude, following a script is literally my _job_.”

Jo laughed, the sound clear and happy. “Yeah, but we’re not supposed to _feel_ that when we’re watching you. There’s no… I don’t know. No spark between you and uh, what’s her name? Starlight?”

“Yeah. So… wait, how bad is it, exactly?” Charlie sat up, suddenly faced with the horrifying truth that all those comments were _true_. “Is it like Captain America and Peggy’s niece bad or more like movie Harry and Ginny bad?”

Jo thought for a second. “I guess… It’s like Bruce and Natasha bad.”

Charlie sat there in shock as she absorbed this sentence. She sank into her seat, the world as she knew it suddenly shattered around her and the ground under her opening up to swallow her whole. Her face crumbled and she dragged her fingers down her cheeks. She couldn’t even say anything out of sheer horror at having been compared to this century’s worst possible forced couple she could think of.

“Hey,” said Jo, breaking Charlie out of her misery. “I can hear you beating yourself up from here.”

“_Ugh_.”

Jo nudged against Charlie’s knee with a grin, because apparently this was _funny _for her. “C’mon,” she said gently. “I’ll buy you a cake if that’d make you feel better.”

Faced with Jo’s bright grin, the situation didn’t _feel _as dire as she had put it. The lump of anger dissolved away. “You just want cake.”

“You got me.”

Charlie laughed at this, and sighed. “It really can’t be _that _bad, can it?”

“Okay, maybe not _that_ bad,” Jo admitted. “It was an extremely heterosexual example.”

“All the lesbians seemed to like it,” Charlie muttered. “That’s all I care about. Being a lesbian icon.”

“To be fair, us women-loving-women are pretty thirsty for any sort of rep,” Jo said.

Charlie sighed. Yeah, okay, fair point. “How come you know so much better anyway? You’ve never been in love either.”

Jo raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah I have.”

Charlie took a second. “_What_?”

Jo shrugged.

“With who?” Charlie demanded.

Jo paused her stirring stick for a split second as she got caught in thought, and she casually went back to stirring. “None of your business.”

“_Jooo_.”

Jo shrugged again, this time with a playful smile along her lips. Charlie stared at her best friend, who was clearly trying to send her into some sort of state with all these shocking revelations she was handing out today. Since high school they’d known each other and Charlie had never seen Jo with anyone before, let alone shown interest in another person.

“You know Xena doesn’t count, right?”

“Yes, Charles.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“I’m really not.”

“Then how come I never knew about it before?”

“I don’t tell you _everything_, you know.”

“Clearly not,” Charlie said dryly but Jo didn’t take the bait. Charlie thought she knew everything there was to know about her best friend only to have that shattered as well. She honestly believed, up to this point anyway, that Jo was the person who knew her best and visa versa, but apparently that wasn’t the case. “Pretty please?”

Jo laughed. “Charlie Celeste Middleton, we are done talking about this. Let’s go back to _your _issues.”

Charlie huffed. “Fine. I’ll drop it. For now!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jo cleared her drink. “What brought this up all of a sudden anyway? The episode you mentioned is from last season.”

Right. Charlie winced, reminded again on how badly she screwed up a few nights ago just before they went into hiatus. “I have this love scene with Starlight that I can’t get right no matter what I do.” She sighed. “We’re supposed to try again in a couple of weeks. Ugh, I’m stressed!”

“Any plans?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie sighed again, thinking back to the prickly feeling at the back of her neck that made her shrink just knowing how hard everyone else was working to make the scene work, and the physical weight of their probable disapproval of her for fucking up every time.

For representation reasons, for her own _pride_, for the crew who worked their butts off for every scene, but mostly so she could take all the love scenes she shot with Starlight and shove it in people’s faces as if to say _HEY LESBIANS EXIST_, she _had _to get this upcoming scene right.

“I thought maybe I’d go back to watching famous romance scenes for research or something but…” She wrinkled her nose. “If it didn’t help me before, I don’t know how it’ll help me now. I’ve looked at the script a million times and I—” Charlie groaned with a hand over her forehead.

“Charles,” Jo gently said from just above her head. “You know there’s plenty of people who like it for what it is, right?”

After a beat, Charlie muffled out, “Yeah, I know.” She looked up to catch Jo judging her with her eyebrows, and Charlie laughed. “I know, I know! But I just want it to be _perfect_.”

“Not berating yourself every step of the way because of a couple of assholes might be a start.”

“Shush.”

Jo laughed. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

Charlie nodded with appreciation. The sun shone through the café window and Jo’s golden hair was all the more brilliant under the rays, each strands illuminated like spun gold. Jo almost looked ethereal in this quiet afternoon as they sat there, and something tickled Charlie funny in her general chest region as an idea started to form at the back of her mind.

It was a stupid idea.

It was a ridiculous idea.

It was an idea that might just work.

(And anyway, she wouldn’t trust anyone else to do this with her.)

“Hey,” Charlie said, breaking the comfortable air between them. Jo looked up, inquisitive. “I think there _is _something you can help me with.”

Jo narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Charlie’s sudden vigour. “Sure,” she said. “What’re you thinking?”

“Date me.”

Jo choked on her drink.

“It makes sense!” Charlie continued as Jo coughed out her drink. “Uh, you okay?”

“Yep.” Jo cleared her throat. “Just fine. Um. What are you talking about?”

“We can just, you know, pretend to be in love. It’d be good practice for me,” Charlie said, more and more enraptured by the idea as she talked. Dorothy was too polite and kept her professional distance when they acted since they weren’t all that close outside of work, but Jo would definitely speak up if she had any criticism about Charlie. “You can give me a few pointers on what it’s like to be in love, tell me if I do anything wrong, and I can watch you and see what it should look like, you know?”

“Right.”

“So what do you say?” Charlie wiggled her eyebrows. “Wanna be my lover, pal?”

Jo stared at her with a napkin halfway to her lips. Then she burst out laughing, her hair curtaining her face as she stayed bent down wheezing. Charlie laughed with her, feeling full even though she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. Jo looked back up with a mischievous grin and she paused to regard Charlie for a second with warm brown eyes.

“Alright,” she said, and Charlie’s stomach swooped with excitement. “Just for the next few weeks, right?”

“Yep. After that you can dump me all you want.”

Jo shook her head and looked around the café. “Is this our first date?” She raised her eyebrows. “Pretty lousy first date.”

Charlie laughed and punched her in the arm. Jo yelped. “Any date with me would be a blast and you know it.”

Jo’s expression softened with a smile. “I’m sure they are.”

Well, she definitely wasn’t lying about having been in love before. Charlie took quick mental notes of the way Jo’s voice grew more tender and how she leaned towards Charlie with her hand tucked under her chin.

“Dude,” Charlie said with a laugh, “at least give me a warning before we start.”

Jo blinked. She took a second before she realized what Charlie was talking about, rolled her eyes, and gave a laugh. “Sure. So how do you want to do this?”

* * *

Charlie opened the door, leaned against the doorframe and said, “Hey there, beautiful.”

Jo crossed her arms, unimpressed by Charlie’s prowess. “I thought you wanted to take this seriously.”

“I do! I am!”

“Alright,” Jo said dryly. “If you say so.”

“What?” Charlie demanded. “I literally only said hi. What could I have possibly done wrong?”

“Well.” Jo hesitated. “I wouldn’t leer, for one.”

“I did not _leer_. I just said whatever was on my mind when I saw you! What’s wrong with that?”

Jo let out a hysterical laugh. “You know how Dean does that… what does he call it, the Blue Steel?”

Charlie had a bad feeling about this. “…Yeah?”

“That.” Jo gestured to Charlie. “That’s what you’re doing right now. You’re showing off like some sort of… You’re peacocking.”

“Fine! Fine.” Charlie laughed. “How would you do it, then? Show me, O Great Master.”

With confidence, Jo jutted her chin out. “As you wish, young grasshopper. Move out of my way.”

They switched places—Jo inside Charlie’s apartment and Charlie in the hallway—and Charlie’s heart picked up a little, anticipation building in her gut as she imagined what Jo would do. Maybe Jo would say hello a little breathless like she couldn’t have waited to see Charlie again? Maybe Charlie would be pulled into an unexpected hug that lasted longer than necessary, though Charlie highly doubted that would be the case since Jo wasn’t usually for physical contact unless she could help it, and unless she herself had initiated it. 

Well, whatever Jo was about to do, Charlie was ready to learn how to act like she was in love. She gave her door three knocks and rolled on her heels.

Soon after, Jo opened the door and Charlie waited with held breaths. A most charming grin took over Jo’s face and she said, “Hey there, beautiful.”

“_What_!” Charlie shoved Jo, who doubled over in laughter as Charlie said, “_What was that!_”

Jo took little gasps of air in between her laughter and Charlie shook her head. The sheer _audacity_.

“Maybe you had a point about saying whatever came to mind,” Jo said good-naturedly.

“Uh huh.” Charlie didn’t miss the compliment and that did make her feel a little warmer. “Good effort, I guess.”

Jo wiggled her eyebrows and Charlie couldn’t keep up her serious face anymore, bursting into laughter at the sight. Jo grinned with success. “So, now what?”

Charlie shrugged. “Wanna hang out here?”

“Goodness,” Jo said, flitting her eyelashes. “At least buy me dinner first.”

Charlie grinned. “Didn’t realize you had such high standards.”

Jo made an offended noise at the back of her throat and something about this whole situation was just really dumb, standing in Charlie’s apartment by themselves pretend-dating like some sort of inside joke between them. The whole reason for doing this in the first place was for Charlie to get better at treating Jo like Jo _wasn’t _Jo.

“Hey,” Charlie said, suddenly tentative. “Is this not working out?”

Unaware of Charlie’s dilemma, there were still traces of laughter dancing along her lips as Jo asked, “What?”

Charlie ruffled her hair. “I mean, this was supposed to give me more practice on being seriously in love but all we’re doing is acting kinda stupid.” She gave a nervous laugh and Jo sobered up. She stilled, and listened. “Should we just… stop?”

Jo thought about this for a moment. “If you want to stop, we can stop,” she said slowly.

Charlie shook her head. It wasn’t that she wanted to stop. It was just that… “I don’t know. I’m having a hard time getting into scene with you.”

“Really.”

“Yeah.” Charlie scratched the tip of her nose. “It’s not too bad when it’s someone I don’t know since I just have to tell myself I’m in love with them. With you it’s harder to imagine?” Charlie winced. “I don’t know how to explain it. Like…” Charlie waved at the space between them. “We always act like this anyway, but, you know.” She shrugged. “This is supposed to be romantic.”

Jo gave a strangled laugh in response. “Right.”

Deep in thought, Jo didn’t say anything else. Charlie didn’t offend her or anything, did she?

“Hey,” Charlie said and Jo looked up, her eyes sharp and focused. “I didn’t mean it like, you’re not lovable or anything.”

Jo huffed. “I know that, Charlie.” Finally, after a short curt nod to herself she said, “I’ll take this more seriously.”

Charlie perked up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I guess… I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t know what to do so I goofed it.” She cleared her throat. “Let’s try this more seriously for an afternoon. And if you still feel like you can’t do this with me, we can stop at any time. How’s that sound?”

That sounded _perfect_. “That sounds good.”

“Okay,” Jo said, her expression unreadable. Maybe a little bit of hesitation, a little bit of nerves, a lot of shit-was-about-to-go-down determination. “If you’re sure.”

“Jo,” Charlie said with a grin. “I’m the one who wanted this.”

Jo shrugged. “Alright. We need a safeword.”

“What?” Charlie laughed. “You’re _really _gonna have to take me to dinner first before we go _that _far.”

“Charlie,” Jo said. “Safeword, or I’m not doing this. This is for both of us.”

Charlie’s laughter died on her tongue along with her joke about Jo needing to get her mind of the gutter. Jo was being a hundred-percent serious about it. How far did she exactly think they were going to take this? Sure, it wasn’t as if Charlie had never filmed scenes where things got a little too intense and left her feeling jittery afterwards but…

Actually, along with that line of thought she could see exactly where Jo was coming from. She’d never want to put Jo through that. “Alright. What’s our safeword?”

Jo shrugged. “What instantly kills the mood for you?”

Charlie didn’t even have to think. “Voldemort.”

Jo’s eyes twitched for one millisecond before she guffawed and composed herself by clearing her throat. “Voldemort it is.”

“So.” Charlie shrugged. “Now what?”

“I’m in love with you,” Jo said confidently like she had loved Charlie her whole life, “and you pretend to do the same.”

“Great.” Charlie nodded. “We’re girlfriends now.”

As if these words blanketed over the usual easygoing vibe between them, they stood in Charlie’s living room for a beat. Charlie was suddenly very aware of something heavy that wedged itself between them and conscious of Jo’s eyes that roamed around the place as if she hadn’t visited it a hundred times before. And suddenly, Charlie intensely yearned for the comfortableness between them back, not this… whatever it was that was hanging in the air right now, so charged that Charlie could almost choke in it even though all Jo had done was shift a little on her feet. The person in front of her almost didn’t feel like Jo but an alien who was shaped like her taking _her _Jo’s place.

Charlie suddenly hated herself for suggesting this.

“So!” Charlie said more loudly than she’d intended, and she winced at her own volume. “What d’you want to do?”

Jo shrugged with one shoulder. “I don’t know. I just kinda want to sit and relax.”

It had only been maybe ten seconds since Charlie said the g-word (girlfriends) but for some reason it felt like an eternity existed between then and now as Jo—_her _Jo—reappeared in front of her with a shrug that Charlie was painfully familiar with. It was enough to break whatever weird spell got cast and Charlie relaxed. All that big talk about her being the professional actor between the two of them and she was already letting the scene get to her head.

“You read my mind,” Charlie replied. “I’ve been feeling _Carrie _lately.”

Jo grinned. “Of course you have been. Classic or the remake?”

Charlie made an offended sound. “Are you serious? Is that even a question?”

Jo laughed and walked over to the kitchen. “You got popcorn?”

“Sure do.”

“Perfect.”

As soon as Jo was out of sight, Charlie let out a breath. This was _Jo_, in love with her or not. And anyway, Jo hadn’t acted any differently from normal so far so Charlie didn’t know why she was being stupid about it. Charlie set up the TV and sure enough, soon she heard popping noises from the kitchen.

“Charles?”

“Yeah?” Charlie replied, distracted. Where the hell was the remote?

“Tell me if this is enough butter.”

“‘Kay.” Screw the remote. She had popcorn to taste.

The popcorn popper was still vigorously running and the smell of cooked kernels was in the air. Jo was leaning against her kitchen counter, stirring butter into a bowl of freshly made popcorn. Jo looked up and their eyes met, and Jo gave her a warm smile and gestured her forward. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Charlie popped a kernel in her mouth. _God_. “How is it that you make better popcorn than me with _my _machine?”

Jo’s smile widened into a beautiful grin. “Good?”

“_Damn _good_._”

Charlie grabbed another small handful but just as she was about to pop a kernel into her mouth, Jo leaned over and snagged it right from between her fingers, just about grazing her lips against Charlie’s finger along the way. Charlie froze, feeling like she just licked the end of a battery as she watched Jo chew thoughtfully.

Jo nodded in approval. “Yep. Good popcorn.”

Charlie stared at Jo, who grinned at her with mischief. Charlie had never seen this side of Jo before—not to this degree anyway, and not directed at her. Sure they always flirted jokingly without shame, but it was always under the pretext that they were bestest friends and there were no actual romantic feelings involved whatsoever. Right now, the safety of that pretext didn’t exist and Charlie was pretty sure she was being thoroughly _seduced_ by Jo. The thought itself was enough to have her flush furiously, surely bright enough to not be able to distinguish her face from her hairline.

A worried look flashed past Jo’s warm brown eyes as she watched Charlie’s reaction to her putting the—the _move_ on her. Jo just put her move on Charlie. Geez.

“Too far?” Jo asked gently.

Charlie gulped. This was exactly what she asked for yet she hadn’t properly prepared herself for what was to come. “Nope.” Charlie managed a grin and gave her a thumbs up. “It’s cool. Just surprised.”

Jo’s worried look softened, soon turning back into her cheerful demeanour. “Cool.”

They moved to the couch without much more fuss even if Charlie couldn’t get the sensation of Jo’s lips on her finger—even if _very _briefly—out of her mind. Her fingers still tingled by the time they settled down, each taking the ends of Charlie’s couch. It wasn’t exactly big but there was enough space between them that they weren’t physically touching. Charlie glanced over to Jo and shot her a quick smile before she hit play.

For a while, she just watched the movie. They had both watched _Carrie _enough times to not have to give it their full attention but Charlie still found herself engrossed with it after the first few scenes. It was why, more than any other reason, that Charlie jumped when something draped over the top of her shoulders.

It took her a split second to process the weight as Jo’s arm slung over the couch behind her. They still weren’t physically touching but the weight was an unavoidable presence behind Charlie’s neck. They met eyes when Jo glanced over to Charlie to check with her and see if this was alright and _pff_, who did Jo think Charlie was? She may not have been in love before but she knew how this worked. She was a natural at _this_.

So Charlie responded to this cute little act by sliding her arm behind Jo’s back, effectively hooking her arm around Jo’s waist. Jo took in a sharp inhale but relaxed against the touch with a breath. Taking this as approval, Charlie scooched her head into the empty space between Jo’s shoulder and chin. With a small sigh, Jo rested her head against Charlie.

They were snuggling.

Charlie had snuggled plenty of people before—romantic or no—but admittedly this was a new territory with Jo. Charlie had always sort of assumed with Jo that she wasn’t a touchy-feely sort of a person, always keeping Charlie at an arm’s length and only really hugging during special occasions like when they were about to part for weeks. Yet here she was, initiating every touch that they were sharing like she was starved for it all this time.

Inside the TV a gruesome scene took place, but all Charlie could focus on was the subtle floral scent wafting from Jo’s hair and how she could feel every breath Jo took in and out, her body rising alongside her in tune and how… how nice this all was. She was warm—actually, she was on the verge of getting clammy the longer she thought about how it was Jo that she was curled around at the moment. She had never been this close for this long with Jo before.

“God, this movie’s so fucking creepy,” Jo muttered, her voice everywhere around Charlie like some sort of a personal snuggling surround sound system.

Charlie gave a half-hearted mutter that was generic enough to show that she was listening and tried to focus back on the movie, shuffling closer into Jo and absently trying to find an endpoint where pushing against the warmth will stop the comfort. She failed to find it.

The movie ended the way it always ended yet Charlie had barely an inkling of what happened in it. She supposed they should stop snuggling now that the movie was over but it was just so _nice _to snuggle with Jo and feeling like, like _holy shit why did we never do this before?_ and _we should definitely do this more _and _if I get up to pee will she let me do this again_?

Before Charlie could sort through these particular thoughts or get up to go pee, there was a brief and solid press on top of her head that momentarily had Charlie’s breath catch in her lungs and her toes curl up in response. While Charlie marvelled over the power of simple casual touches like an unexpected kiss on top of her head and how elated it could make her feel, the nice warmth that was Jo left her as she got up to stretch. It was only two hours at most but Charlie already missed being pressed against her.

Jo sighed contently after her long stretch that definitely didn’t show a peek of her belly button which Charlie definitely wasn’t staring at. “Good?”

Charlie didn’t know if she was referring to the movie or the cuddlefest that just happened but she managed a wordless nod and a small smile. Jo grinned in response, and it struck Charlie how she was doing such a better job than Charlie at this whole pretend-girlfriend thing, and it would’ve hurt Charlie’s actor pride had it not been for how boneless she felt from contentment.

Charlie leaned against the couch and resisted the monkey brain instinct to bury herself further into the remnants of warmth that Jo had left there. “Are you heading out now?”

Jo wrinkled her nose with a frown, and maybe it was the cuddling and the constant physical contact that was messing with the part of Charlie’s brain that usually registered the person in front of her as her platonic—_PLATONIC_—best friend, but the sight was so—so _adorable_ that Charlie resisted the high urge of leaning over to kiss her on her nose. Or maybe she should give into that urge? Jo kissed her on top of her head so maybe that was within their boundaries of being pretend-in-love, but the nose was a hell of a lot more romantically intimate than the top of the head in terms of kissing and she wasn’t completely sure. She was only belatedly glad that Jo had set a safeword in case it _was _crossing the line.

That entire paragraph of a thought only took a second to pass through Charlie’s brain before she snapped out of it with Jo’s sigh. “Wish I could stay longer,” said Jo. “But mom landed me with the shitty, shitty weekend shift.”

Charlie grinned in hopes of showing nonchalance instead of looking like she spent the last second internally debating over whether to kiss her best friend on her nose or not. “It’s cool. I learned a lot today anyway.”

Jo stilled for a moment, her arm halfway in her jacket as she blinked and took this in. She pursed her lips and offered a small smile. “Right. Well, I’m happy to help.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Charlie laughed, not unkindly as the tip of Jo’s nose turned red from her flush. "Um. Is this still cool?"

"Hm?"

"Are you still... You know, up for dating me?"

"Of course I am." Jo cocked an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Yeah." Charlie nodded, her lips dry all of a sudden. "Yep."

They stared at each other, and Charlie really hoped that she hadn't noticed how red her face had gotten. She could literally feel her heart beating, which shouldn't be something one should be able to feel. "Anyway, you're going to be late."

Jo blinked and nodded, breaking away from Charlie's eyes. “Right." She put the rest of her jacket on and cocked her head towards the door, her usual confidence back on with a grin. “Later, Charles.”

“Later.”

The tension in Charlie’s brain oozed out like a physical feeling as soon as the door shut and Jo disappeared. She was usually pretty beat after a hang-out but the afternoon she spent with Jo today took a bigger toll on her than she’d expected. She supposed she did technically just go on a first date with her best friend of many years and she supposed that could be nerve-wrecking for some people, but for her? Pff, please. She was probably just too relaxed from the cuddling, that was all.

Her brain, always out to prove her wrong, reminded her of how she froze on the spot when Jo ate the popcorn off her finger, the kiss on top of her head. The warmth, the intimacy so heavily layered with something else that it was unlike anything she’d experienced before.

She rolled her eyes at herself and shook her head. The whole pretending was getting to her head. But this was a good idea after all; before, she could _not _relate to Odyssey’s mindset on suddenly being nervous around someone who she’d known for over three seasons.

She kinda got it now.

* * *

Charlie exchanged another blow with the competitor, and their swords clashed in quick succession. She took a nimble side-step and jabbed him on the side, and the man fell to his knees with a gasp.

“Yield!” the man yelled, dropping his sword. “I yield!”

Charlie huffed. She took her helmet off and the crowd cheered. She grinned—she was the motherfucking queen for a reason.

Reginald, the knight she had been fighting, looked up at her with widened eyes. “I love you,” he breathed.

“I know.” She smiled. “Take your leave to my medical tent and attend to your… severed limbs.”

She leaned against her foam sword and turned to address the rest of the crowd about the upcoming Forever Crown war, only to witness a very familiar blonde head in the mix, amusedly watching her.

Charlie froze only for a second because she was a pro. She cleared her throat and stuck her chin up proudly as she spoke. “While the honour guard is crucial, I look towards you to help us journey towards a better Moondoor that can thrive. Do not let the blood of the fallen discourage you but rather strengthen you as we enter the final act of his war.”

The crowd gave a cheer. She smiled and gestured for them to settle down.

“That said, the guard is still looking for more suitable members. My handmaiden is unfortunately bedridden from an unexpected flu and isn’t present today, so you may consult one of my guards if you’re interested in challenging me.” She paused and made sure to scan the crowd, looking at them in the eyes like old charismatic rulers in epic movies did. She raised her sword. “For Moondoor!”

“For Moondoor!” the rest of the crowd yelled back. She rewarded them with a satisfied grin.

The crowd scattered, leaving Jo an easy path to reach her. She wasn’t in costume since Charlie promised her a change of clothes once she got here, but she still looked so out of place on this familiar ground. Charlie hadn’t seen her since their movie night but when they texted in between then and now, she’d _sounded _like how she always sounded. 

Jo quirked an eyebrow with a grin. “You have a handmaiden?”

Charlie led them towards her tent. “It’s Dean.”

Jo guffawed. “No _way_.” She took a moment to think about it. “Actually, weirdly, I can see it.”

“It was a very spur of the moment thing.“ Charlie grinned, her steps practically bouncing. It was really weird to see Jo here but she was just so _happy _to have her here. “Did you look around yet?”

“Figured I’d do that with you.” Jo held up her one-day pass bracelet. “Can’t believe I paid thirty-five bucks to watch you beat up a dude when I can do that at the bar on any Friday night.”

Charlie laughed and punched her on the arm as they entered her tent. “Yeah well, I can’t do that anymore now that I’m _famous_.”

“So this is where you get your fix. Got it.”

“Oh my god.” Charlie shook her head. “You’re such an ass.”

Jo grinned delightedly in response. After rummaging through her costume box, she picked out a few costumes that’d fit Jo—a green dress with long sleeves, and a few outfit pieces that would go better with pants. Either would look amazing on Jo.

“Okay,” Charlie said as she held them up. “Which one?”

Jo hummed. “Does the dress have pockets?”

“Nope.”

“Pants, then.”

Charlie handed her a pair of pants with a smile that she couldn’t seem to wipe off her face. “Dude, I’m so psyched you’re here! I can’t wait to show you around.”

Jo’s grin turned soft and she held up her costume. “Gonna give me some privacy too?”

“Oh. Right.”

Charlie rocked on her heels as she waited outside the tent, running through some scenarios they could play through. Whatever happened today, she hoped for Jo to have fun; they had been trying to find a time for Jo to come out to one of the sessions for forever and she was just_ so _happy that Jo was finally here.

Charlie was making a mental checklist on the things that she had to have Jo experience today when Jo’s voice from inside the tent snapped her out of it.

“Hey, uh, Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“Need your help.”

“You want me to come in?”

“Yup.”

With a beating heart, Charlie carefully parted the drapes of her tent. Jo was facing the mirror, her usual calm hair fuzzy from static created from pulling a shirt over her head. She was turning a red piece of cloth around—it was a tabard, Charlie realized—in her hand with a puzzled look, poking her arm through one of the holes and frowning at it. She turned around at the sound of Charlie approaching and Charlie had to remind herself keep her face neutral.

Because Jo looked… indescribable. She was wearing a thick leather belt on top of her beige shirt that had wide long sleeves and fitted dark brown pants with knee-high leather boots. Charlie made sure to calm her gay heart down—but god _damn _was her best friend the most gorgeous person she knew.

“I’m pretty sure I’m done,” Jo said. Her confused look was adorable and yet again Charlie tapped down the urge to kiss her wrinkled up nose. “But I don’t know if I’m supposed to wear this somehow.”

Charlie shifted her attention to the red tabard. “Oh, yeah. This one actually goes under your belt. Here.”

Charlie took one step closer and reached for Jo’s belt without another thought, and only when her hands were on the buckles did she realize that Jo had gone very, very still and the room had gone very, very quiet.

There was a distant roar of noise outside the thin tent walls from other LARPers—something must’ve happened just then—but the noise wasn’t loud enough to penetrate through whatever had blanketed over them at that moment and snap them out of this… whatever it was that was happening between them. Charlie took a gulp and unbuckled one of the straps with a _click_, and Jo’s sharp inhale overwhelmed Charlie to the point where she could physically feel it crawl along her skin. She painstakingly undid the copper clasp and moved onto the next buckle with Jo’s eyes on her like a grip around her lungs, not having realized just how close they were until strands of Charlie’s hair swayed from Jo’s soft breaths. Charlie licked her lips and undid the belt, loosening the beige shirt that was bunched up inside.

Charlie dared to glance up just then and it was a mistake because Jo was right _there_, watching her with her big brown eyes. Their eyes met for one breathtaking moment with Charlie’s arms around her, and though they weren’t touching, every particle that made up Charlie’s body vibrated like a bell that had just been rung. What didn’t go unnoticed was the way Jo licked her lips as she sneaked a glance down at Charlie’s lips, and maybe Charlie was delusional but maybe Jo was about to kiss her and maybe Charlie was definitely into it.

“Charlie?” Jo whispers.

“Hm?”

Jo cleared her throat. Charlie’s eyes flew open (when did she even close them?) and Jo stood in front of her, the red of the tabard in her hands reflected against her cheeks to make them look like they were on fire.

“Are you gonna…” She gestured at the tabard.

“Oh.” Charlie’s tensed shoulders loosened and heat rushed to her face as she took the tabard from Jo’s hands and fumbled with it. “Just put your head through this hole and then put the belt over it.”

Jo nodded, looking down at her tabard. “Okay.”

Charlie turned away from Jo as she put the tabard on even though she was already fully dressed, and only when the definite _click _of Jo’s belt resounded through the empty silence of the tent did she turn back around.

Jo spread her arms out to present herself, properly dressed with all the parts of the costume this time. She cocked her eyebrows. “Well?”

Charlie grinned, hoping it would rid of some of the heat that still remained in her cheeks. “Awesome.”

Just then, a voice called from outside the tent, “Your Highness, permission to enter?”

Charlie exchanged a glance with Jo. “Okay, seems like we’re about to start a mission or something.” Thank goodness—it was about time she showed what LARPing was to Jo. “You ready?”

Jo grinned, confident set on her shoulders. “Hell yeah.”

Charlie smiled, and cleared her throat. “Permission granted.”

Abelot entered, looking flushed. “Thank you, Your Highness. There’s urgent news.”

“What is it?”

“Two of our men,” he said with a low voice, glancing between Charlie and Jo. “They were compromised. Found by the outskirts of the Shadoworc’s forest.”

Charlie sucked in a shocked breath. Jo watched them with amused raised eyebrows but she didn’t say anything.

“This is clearly a declaration of war from the Shadoworcs!” he continued. “We must restore the honour of our fallen and avenge them.”

“Now, of all times?” Charlie frowned. “Shadoworcs may have been our enemy in the past but they wouldn’t do something so rash right now. We were about to reach an agreement.”

“They’re not known for their wit, Your Highness. It must be their last act of hurrah before they submit under your ruling.”

Charlie hesitated. She had all the powers to call wrath upon the Shadoworcs with one slight raise of her finger, but something didn’t feel right. On the other hand, she couldn’t simply risk the rest of her kingdom’s safety just because she had a _feeling_ Shadoworcs weren’t the ones betraying them.

“Now hold on,” said Jo from the side, and Charlie shot her a grateful glance. “What do these Shadoworc folks gain from going against you?”

“If they succeed, they regain the freedom to do as they please. As they’ve always done for centuries,” said Abelot.

“Yeah, but I thought the whole point of this agreement was so everyone protected each other with Charlie overlooking everything.” Jo frowned. “Why would they _not _want to be a part of that?”

Abelot looked shocked. “That’s _Your Highness _to you, ma’am.”

“Sir Abelot, it’s alright,” Charlie said. “You’ll show some respect to my… my… um, betrothed.”

Nobody spoke for a beat and Charlie internally smacked herself. It was just that her mind had been on their whole fake dating thing like a tunnel vision and it was leaking through to everything else in her life. This was way more awkward than when Dean became her handmaiden.

Much to Charlie’s relief, Jo blindly grabbed for Charlie’s hand and held it up to present it to Abelot. “That’s right,” Jo said. When their eyes met, Jo gave her a wide smirk and Charlie’s heart leaped to her throat, and they both turned back to Abelot. “You’ll address me accordingly, Sir Abelot.”

“Oh.” Abelot blinked. He quickly glanced down at Charlie and Jo’s joined hands and cleared his throat. “Right. My apology, Your Highnesses. Anyway, those orcs have been plotting against us ever since this agreement was first brought up because you took the Forever Crown.” He looked to Charlie. “It’s time for us to strike back and put them in their place once and for all.”

She really hoped her hand stayed as dry as it was and didn’t turn into some clammy monster. “You’re talking about a full-scale war against an entire nation. _Again_.” She twitched to throw her hands up in the air only to stop herself at the last second after being reminded of the weight it held. “We can’t waste any more resources to make it happen, not to mention the potential casualties.”

“Hold on.” Jo hummed, and Charlie could actually feel it through their touched shoulders. “Who gains the most from you and the orcs fighting?”

Charlie and Abelot shared a glance.

Charlie paced around the tent, deep in thought. Jo watched her, probably amused at how seriously Charlie was taking this. Abelot politely stood by while Charlie thought through everything.

“What do I do if the sabotage really _was _done by the elves?” Charlie said aloud. “I don’t know if fighting them is an option, especially when I’m not even sure it was really them.”

“Can you send a scout?” Jo asked. 

“Most of my guards are already too well-known and I don’t really trust anyone outside of them to defend themselves in case of emergencies. No offence, Abelot.”

“None taken, Your Highness.”

“It would be weird if I went since I’m the Queen.” Charlie frowned. “Damn it. I can’t believe we have an international crisis at hand right now. I really wanted to show you around and figured we’d have an easy day since we _just _reached peaceful times.”

Jo leaned over with mischief clearly in her eyes and it made Charlie’s stomach leap. “Well, then let’s do that.”

Charlie stopped pacing. “What?”

“We’ll go for a stroll to the elves’ place,” Jo said with a slow smile overtaking her face. “I’m the newbie, right? And since I’m your…” Jo glanced at Abelot, “…betrothed, it wouldn’t be weird for the Queen to show me around the area.” Jo shrugged. “It’ll be our pre-honeymoon.”

Charlie processed the idea and formulated it and shaped it in her mind. “Oh my god.” She grinned. “Oh my _god_, Jo, you’re a genius!”

“Isn’t that you?”

“Hey, there’s a reason why we’re in love.” Charlie laughed. “This could work!” She hugged Jo with a squeal and Jo laughed as they did a little excited jump.

“Okay, okay,” Jo said a little breathlessly, her face tinted with red when they let go.

Charlie turned to Abelot. “What do you think, Abelot?”

“Certainly, it’s worth looking into.” Abelot paused. “But I’m worried for your safely, Your Highnesses. Even if you're the most renowned fighter in our kingdom, my Queen, if the elves really are our enemy, then you’re walking right into their territory with no guards. Not to mention the safety of your betrothed...”

“No need to worry,” Jo said smoothly. “Do you have a sword I can use?”

And off they went into the realm of the Elves. It was a lovely day to be outside with a pleasant breeze that picked up on their way and Charlie made sure for them to take the ‘back road’ (aka the little trail in the forest just on the edge of the soccer field) to reach it. The closer they were to the Elves’ realm the more people they saw with fake pointy plastic ears, and Jo curiously followed them with her eyes when they passed by.

Near the borders of the Elves’ kingdom, a small tent that belonged to an outside vendor that sometimes set up shop to sell things for cosplayers was there that day. The shop owner, who always played along, was sitting outside on a stool. She smiled when she saw them.

“Come, come, weary travellers!” she said. “Rest your souls from your long journeys and see what takes to your heart.”

“Does everyone here talk like that?” Jo asked, leaning close enough for her hair to brush against Charlie’s cheek.

“That’s half the fun.” Charlie eyed the circlet sections. She technically already owned a crown what with being the Queen and all but the prop didn’t come close to fulfilling her Lord of the Rings loving heart that wept whenever she saw circlets. She saw a silver one with rubies woven into it. “Can we try these on?”

“Of course! It’s the finest Elvish crafts you’ll find around here.”

The merchant handed her the ruby circlet over. It was delicate to touch and Charlie was scared of squishing its shape, but the merchant reassured her that it was as sturdy as dragon mane.

“Hey,” Charlie called to Jo, who was looking at a selection of chainmailles. “Come here.”

Jo saw the circlet in Charlie’s hands and she smiled knowingly as she walked over. Jo was only slightly shorter than Charlie so it was easy to carefully slip the circlet over onto Jo’s head. Jo closed her eyes as Charlie did this, and opened them slowly when the circlet settled against her forehead.

“How’s it lookin’?” Jo asked.

Charlie grinned. “Fit for the Queen who’ll rule beside me.”

“Is this your Lord of the Rings fetish acting up again?”

“Maybe.”

Jo laughed with a shake of her head but didn’t take the circlet off until they left the shop. She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword as they walked and Charlie was suddenly violently reminded of her giant crush on lady knights as a kid. Well, truthfully, one could never really stop crushing on lady knights once the feelings were realized.

“So,” said Jo. “What’re you thinking?”

Charlie froze for a second. What she was _thinking _was that they should hold hands but there was no one to pretend for so it wouldn’t be justified. “I was thinking,” she said out loud, “that we head over to the Whispering Woods and start there. We can ask for rumours about the elves.”

“Kinda conveniently named, isn’t it?”

“It’s a sacred neutral ground where attacks don’t work against each other. We’re only going to get some insider info.”

Jo pouted with her lower lip sticking out. It was kind of adorable. “What, no fighting?”

Charlie laughed. “We’ll do that when we figure out whose ass we need to whoop.”

“That’s a promise.”

It wasn’t too long until they reached the Whispering Woods (aka the bench underneath a willow tree beside the playground). There was an NPC sitting on the bench in a long green robe with tree bark make-up on her face.

“Hello, Willow Spirit,” said Charlie, and Jo gave a slight acknowledging nod. “May I have a rumour?”

“Hello, Queen,” said the Willow Spirit. “A rumour for a rumour. Tell me, I do grow bored on this hill all by myself. What goes on in your kingdom these days?”

“Right.” Charlie glanced at Jo, who nodded at her. They had discussed it on their way. “I heard that the Queen is betrothed and that her betrothed is in town today,” said Charlie.

The Willow Spirit cocked her head with curiosity and looked between Charlie and Jo. “My,” she said with a wide smile. “A splendid rumour, indeed. Very well, who or what do you want to know about?”

“Have you heard anything about who hurt my two men that were on guard by the river?”

The Willow Spirit hummed. “I heard that one of the knights of Yesteryear saw an elf ambush them.”

Charlie shared a look with Jo and groaned. “Great,” she muttered. “Now what?”

“Now we go kick some elvish ass,” Jo said.

“God, I wish,” Charlie said with a laugh. “But we can’t just march in there and do that without any real proof.”

“Then we get proof.” Jo turned to the Willow Spirit. “Hey, what are the elves planning next?”

The Willow Spirit said nothing.

“You gotta give her a rumour,” Charlie said. She gestured for Jo to lean in closer, and when she did, Charlie whispered into her ear, “A rumour doesn’t have to be true, right?”

Jo hummed. “I like where your head’s at, Charles,” she said with a grin. While rubbing her ear, Jo said, “Hey Willow, I heard that, uhh. That the Queen’s handmaiden has a cowboy fetish.”

“_Jo_!” Charlie laughed.

The Willow Spirit raised her eyebrows, affronted. “Alright,” she said. “What is this cowboy you speak of, exactly?”

Jo shrugged. “We’ll tell you some other time. For now, tell us what the elves are hiding.”

“Oh, well I don’t know anything about hiding,” she said thoughtfully. “But I heard some of the elves are planning on paying the Queen’s men a visit by the Cliffside today when the clock strikes one.”

Charlie blanched. “There are only a few men stationed there. They’ll be outnumbered.” She checked her watch. “It’s already five past one.”

Jo tugged at Charlie’s arm. “Lead the way.”

They hurried over to the Cliffside which was all the way on the other side of the entire LARPing ground (it was right by a little creek that ran at the edge of the soccer field). Charlie looked around but only trees around them rustled in the wind, finding nothing but an empty field.

Jo caught up to her and looked around as well. “Well?”

“Nothing,” said Charlie. “Not even my guards. Where is everyone?”

“A rumour doesn’t have to be true,” Jo said slowly, and Charlie faced her with the exact same thought in mind.

“You think it’s a trap.” 

Just as Jo was about to answer, a voice from behind them said, “Exactly right.”

They both turned to see an elf walking towards them, no less than ten elves with him. Well, Charlie thought, this feels like one of the more dramatic reveals that could’ve happened. She was glad Jo was here today to experience it.

“You’re behind this,” Charlie said, her hands by her fanny pack with her spells inside just in case. Jo moved closer towards Charlie as the elves circled them.

“We are,” said the elf that spoke first. “Of course, your pet Abelot helped to speed up this process by bringing the news to your ears quicker than we’d planned. But it brought you here so I suppose we should thank him for it.”

Charlie didn’t recognize him specifically but she recognized some of the others in the crowd. There was Erlen who sat beside the King of Elves while they discussed trades, and there was Iefyr who she was actually pretty good friends with.

“Charles?” Jo said, eyeing the elves warily. “Can we fight now?”

“Hold on.” Charlie narrowed her eyes. “Why are you doing this? What process?”

The elf stepped forward. “Call off your peace pact with the Shadoworcs and we will let you go.” He pulled out his foam sword to exaggerate his point.

“But this pact will benefit you in the long run too,” Charlie said with a frown. “Why would you oppose it?”

“We’re _elves_,” he hissed. “It’s already enough that we have to co-operate with humans but we certainly do not associate with the likes of _them_. It goes against our traditional ways.”

“Oh, good,” said Jo dryly. “They’re just a bunch of racists.”

Charlie stared at him. “Are you serious? You know the Elf King’s not going to be happy about this, right?”

He snorted. “You really think we’d be here if He the Great opposed it? It’s time for a new reign in Moondoor. You, a human, are not suitable to be her ruler.”

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him and glared at the rest of the group. Some of them at least had the conscious to look guilt-ridden and couldn’t seem to meet her eyes.

“Hey,” Jo said gently with a nudge that snapped Charlie out of her rage. “We can always beat them up.”

Charlie took a breath. “That sounds real tempting right about now.”

The elf smiled with pity. “You are only two against all of us. Even a fighter like yourself can’t possibly think to win.”

And that was that. “Try not to die, Jo,” said Charlie as she pulled out a spell from her pouch.

Jo smirked, her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Please, like I’d let these clowns hurt me.”

The weird tension in the air broke as soon as the elf in front of Charlie charged at her, and chaos ensued. Charlie cast her spells left and right and there was a thrill that trickled through her body as she dodged spells being chucked at her from all around. Charlie turned to Jo to warn her to be careful only to catch herself staring at Jo for longer than is safe during a battle because holy _crud_, she forgot just how freaking cool Jo was with a sword. She swung it and it was no longer a Styrofoam sword but a part of her, strewing bodies down the path she went and claiming victory in every direction.

The elves underestimated them; if they wanted to take both Charlie and Jo down, they should’ve brought their entire army with them. One of the elves on the ground near Charlie’s feet groaned with pain and he rolled to his side.

“Wait,” he gasped, still rubbing his hip. “Hold.” Everyone stopped for a second and turned their attention to him. “Dude, you know we’re not actually racists, right? We’re just playing our characters,” he said pitifully and a few others on the ground groaned in agreement.

“Oh.” Charlie exchanged a glance with Jo, almost sheepishly. “Sorry. With everything happening lately, it kinda rubbed me the wrong way.”

“I, like, completely get that,” he said good-naturedly. “But you guys are really, _really _strong. Try not to swing so hard.”

Charlie winced. “Sorry.”

Jo asked, “Anyone seriously hurt?”

Everyone on the ground murmured a negative.

Charlie cocked her head at the elf on the ground. “You good?”

The elf sighed. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Charlie nodded and they resumed scene. The rest of the fight was quickly over and soon only Charlie and Jo stood in midst of fallen bodies.

“How is this… possible…?” the elf lamented.

Jo slung her sword over her shoulder and walked over to them and hot damn shit fuck _god _that was hot. “Your fault for underestimating us,” she said cheerfully and hooked an arm over Charlie’s shoulder. “Right, Charles?”

“Sure is, Jo.” Charlie leaned against her sword. “And you’ll be coming with me to stand trial.”

The elf snarled and shouted, “_Never_!”

He suddenly shot up with a small foam dagger in his hand and charged at Charlie. Someone shoved her out of the way with enough force to knock her down to the ground and a cacophony of voices erupted. Charlie quickly got back up only to find Jo missing beside her and it took a second for her head to catch up to what had happened.

“Hold!” Charlie screamed, her stomach sinking as she ran down to Jo whose face was screwed up in pain with her arm held against her chest, soaked to her bones in the shallow creek that the elf and Jo had both rolled down to. “_Hold_!”

* * *

“Heeey.”

Jo gave her an unimpressed look, leaned against the door with her one okay hand on her hip, and her other less okay hand dangling uselessly by her side.

Charlie held up a small fruit flower arrangement. “The elves send this.”

“How nice,” Jo said dryly, though she moved out of the way to let Charlie in.

“How’s it feeling?”

“Sprained.”

Charlie gave a nervous squeaky laugh. “Right. Well, I’m here to help.”

Jo shook her head. “You know this wasn’t your fault, right?”

“Well dude, you saying that isn’t going to make me feel any less guilty, so.” Charlie set the fruit arrangement down on Jo’s kitchen counter and opened her fridge. “Let me do this or don’t, but either way I’m going to be here.”

Jo watched her with her arms crossed, a small frown settled upon her brow she studied Charlie. Well, it was more like one of her arms was resting on top of the other with a wrist brace on but the motion was recognized. Jeez, her fridge was barely stocked.

To be honest, Charlie wasn’t really sure what she could do to help. She just felt hella guilty and wanted to be here for Jo for whatever she needed from her. Charlie was mentally calculating what she could even do for her—maybe she could go grocery shopping for her or something—when Jo said, “You know what? Let’s go out.”

Charlie blinked up from the fridge. “Yeah?”

Jo was already reaching for her jacket before Charlie could say anything else. “Yeah. I need a breather.”

Charlie shrugged. “Where to?”

They headed to a local bar near Jo’s place that Jo had always wanted to visit but never had the occasion to.

“It’s not every day I get to go to another bar,” said Jo, expertly catching the bartender’s eyes to ask for a menu.

“I keep asking you to try out that Harry Potter-themed one downtown.”

Jo levelled her with a look. “Yeah, and I will one day when I’m not working at _my _bar.”

“You’re not working today!” Charlie said, and internally smacked herself on the head. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to bring up since Jo wasn’t working tonight because of _her_. But Jo only laughed and didn’t make any more excuses for herself. Charlie hurriedly occupied herself with the menu to distract herself.

It wasn’t a busy night—not as busy as Charlie had seen the Roadhouse get whenever she visited Jo at the bar anyway—but there were still a fair amount of people in the dining area. Charlie flipped through the menu for a cocktail she hadn’t tried yet, imagining how each taste would go with each other. Upon seeing an ingredient she didn’t know about, she looked up to ask Jo what it was only to catch Jo looking at her. She had a hand tucked under her chin with a small smile and when their eyes met, Jo lowered her eyes back down to the menu. It was clear that Jo had been watching Charlie intensely go through the menu just now and the idea of Jo watching her while she wasn’t looking was…

Charlie turned back to the menu, already forgetting why she looked up in the first place. Her cheeks were blazing hot and there was a flustered monster writhing in her stomach the longer she thought about it.

“Do you know what you’re getting?” Charlie asked, trying to dispel the following thoughts from lingering any further, and tried not to put too much focus on their shoulders knocking together while they studied the menu. The Hurricane—rum, all kinds of fruit juices, grenadine—sounded pretty good.

“Nope.” Jo hummed, her eyes roaming the menu. “Grapefruit jalapenos margarita sounds interesting. Might try that one.”

“What, not getting your usual beer tonight?”

“Hey, I’m allowed to try new things once in a while,” said Jo with a grin.

Charlie played with her coaster instead of focusing on how their hands brushed together just now when Jo took the menu from her to hand back to the bartender. “Are you even allowed to drink right now?”

Jo made a face and Charlie could practically see her mentally counting. “Doctor said seventy-two hours before I can drink, so yeah, pretty sure.”

“When can you take that off?”

Their drinks arrived just then and Charlie took a sip. Oh, _yum_. Jo made a face like she didn’t know how she felt about her drink after a sip and tried it again. “They said at least a week, depending on how well I take care of it. My doctor said no messing around with big swords for a while.” Jo pouted, sticking her lower lip out dramatically. “Unfortunately.”

“Oh, poor you,” Charlie said with a laugh. “And no one’s even signed your cast yet.”

“Because it’s not a cast, Charleston.”

“Yeah, but…” Suddenly it was very important that Charlie won this conversation. She didn’t have a pen or anything but it was crucial that Jo’s wrist brace didn’t stay a clean empty beige nothing within the next few minutes.

A spark of genius pinged in her brain and she rummaged through her purse. Jo watched, half-amused and half-curious until Charlie pulled out her bright red lipstick.

Jo laughed. “_What_ are you doing?”

Charlie shrugged and generously applied a layer on, pursing her lips to spread it out evenly. Without another word, she leaned forward and planted a big fat kiss against the top of Jo’s wrist and held her lips there like a stamp. The lipstick may have been a bit much for friend Jo, but right then Jo was her girlfriend and this seemed appropriate. When she came back up, there was a clear kiss mark on Jo’s wrist brace, a brilliant red against dull beige.

“There,” Charlie said proudly with a grin, clicking the lipstick lid back on to emphasize her point. “I kissed it better.”

Jo’s face went through quite a face journey until it settled into a wry smile. “Thanks… I guess. I’ll treasure it.”

Charlie laughed as she wiped the lipstick off her lips. They had barely finished their one drink but she felt drunk on something, giddy and happy and delighted for just being around Jo’s presence. It was always fun to tease her and it was these moments that Charlie always looked forward to the most with Jo, this easy atmosphere between them that felt like no one else in the world could come in between them.

“So hey,” Charlie said. “I have a confession scene coming up.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep.”

“What’re you confessing?”

“How much Starlight means to Odyssey, I guess?”

“Ooh,” Jo said with complete dead monotone. “Exciting.”

Charlie laughed. “Got any tips?”

Jo looked up to the bar lights and studied the bottles lined up on the shelves along the wall. She took a long sip of her drink. “Can’t really help you with that one,” she finally said.

“Really,” Charlie teased. “And here I was thinking you were the expert.”

Jo played with her straw and her eyes lit up against the bar lights. “Let’s practice, then.”

Charlie took a sip just as Jo said this and the gulp went down the wrong tube, landing her with a bit of a coughing fit. She waved aside Jo’s worried “You okay?” and wiped tears off her eyes.

“I don’t have my script with me,” Charlie said weakly.

Jo rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t have yours _and _Starlight’s lines memorized.”

True that. They borrowed a pencil from the bartender and Charlie jotted down the main lines on a piece of napkin for Jo to read from.

“Okay. Uh.” Charlie gave a nervous titter and took a deep breath. She was supposed to be the professional here. She cleared her throat and looked up to Jo with the intention to recite her line, and stopped.

Jo was looking down at her napkin with a small frown, her head leaned against her palm as she muttered her part under her breath. She tucked her hair behind her ear without taking her eyes off the napkin, her hair practically shimmering under the low lighting. It was like the room suddenly grew thunderously loud and completely silent at the same time, the beat of the music in the backdrop in rhythm with her heartbeat as she stared at this person, this Jo, this best friend of hers. Jo looked up and raised her eyebrows when she caught Charlie, and she was still the Jo that Charlie had known all along when she said, “Uh, Charlie?”

_Holy shit_, her mind supplied helpfully at that exact moment. _I’ve been in love with Jo this whole time._

Charlie blinked and Jo was still there, confused as to what Charlie was looking at with so much unmasked awe. She looked over her shoulder to see if Charlie was staring at something behind her instead.

“Hey,” said Charlie, feeling weirdly like she was just born fifteen seconds ago despite nothing significant having happened. Jo turned around and she smiled with a confused frown.

“Hey,” replied Jo, and the frown disappeared to be replaced by her smile completely. The sight tugged at Charlie’s heart strings and she cleared her throat sheepishly.

Love. Of course she loved her. She knew that. Jo knew that. The whole universe when they took one look at her knew that. Maybe she was just surprised to find out there was yet another way to love Jo any more than she already did.

“Okay.” Charlie squared her shoulders and readied herself. Jeez, it was more embarrassing than anything else that she’d never noticed it at all until then. And here she was, thinking she’d always been in tune with her emotions. “Ready?”

Jo shrugged. “Whenever you are.”

Suddenly the scene they were about to practice felt raw in a way that Charlie hadn’t prepared herself for. Oh well. “Starlight, is that you?”

Jo frowned down at her napkin. “Hello, princess.”

It took a second for Charlie to register that the weirdly high squeaky voice did indeed just come from Jo, and took a moment to compose herself so that she didn’t break out of character, and continued the scene.

Jo was not a good actor. Jo was _excellent _at keeping up the acts as fake girlfriends, but she was pretty bad when she was aware of the fact that she was acting. Charlie could see the unnaturalness of how her shoulders settled and her sudden stiffness that screamed that Jo had never acted anything on stage before and she was super self-conscious about it. It was a wonder how she managed to act out being in love with Charlie the past week when this was how she acted out of scenes.

Maybe it was having a script that was making her more aware of the fact that they were acting. Either way, all Charlie could see was Jo struggling to be someone she wasn’t.

"So, uh, what did you want to—"

“Starlight,” Charlie interrupted, and Jo froze at the unexpected ad-lib. Charlie reached forward and gently touched her cheek, light enough for her hand to be practically hovering instead of firmly in place. Still, the message was clear: relax.

Jo stayed frozen with her eyes wide open and her napkin gripped tight in her hand. Charlie smiled, none of it herself and all of it the charismatic leader of space ventures, Princess Odyssey of space and time and everything else.

“What’s wrong?” she said. “You’re wound up tight.”

Jo blinked, glanced down at the script in hand, and flushed for some reason. “That’s not in the—”

“I know it’s not,” Charlie continued. Odyssey always had a lower voice than she did—slow and soothing in times of need—and this was definitely how she would react if Starlight was flustered and nervous in front of her. All she wanted for her beloved was comfort and everything else good in the world. She reached down and squeezed the ends of Jo’s fingers in hopes of offering comfort. “It’s just me, Star. I told you to drop the act when it’s just us two.”

Jo stared at Charlie like she was seeing her for the first time. “Wow. Okay, um.” Jo cleared her throat and looked back at the napkin. “What did you want to talk to me about, Odyssey?”

Charlie nodded, suddenly unable to meet Jo’s eyes. “I consider us equals.”

Jo nods. “Yes, I know.”

“And you are…” Charlie studied the water residue that was left from their drinks on the counter. She took a deep breath. “Everything.” She looked up and met Jo’s eyes. “You’re everything to me.”

Jo’s hand twitched in Charlie’s hand. She nodded once.

“And I…” Looking at Jo, the words were suddenly stuck in her throat. “Um. You know.”

They stared at each other without moving, their hands still conjoined tightly. Charlie broke character first, with a huff that turned into a sort-of laugh that led to a sheepish grin. Jo smiled like she didn’t know how to exactly react to this, but her taut shoulders relaxed as Charlie released her hand.

“Man,” Charlie said with another laugh. “Phew.”

Jo pointed at her accusingly. “You didn’t stick to the script!”

“Hey, it happens.”

Jo smiled with a shake of her head. “We didn’t even get to the part we were practicing for.”

“It’s hard to say it when I think I’m actually doing it!”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

Charlie laughed. “Then you try it.”

Jo stilled and Charlie looked at her, and it was a mistake to meet her eyes in that moment.

“I love you,” Jo said, without a warning or hesitation or any signs to show that she was joking or acting or pretending. Charlie sobered up, the words sinking in like stones thrown into a calm lake, rippling and rippling until it felt like someone took every particle of her body by the shoulders and violently rattled them. Jo said it so easily like it was a truth that she’d known all along, like it was a line that she’d practiced in her head a thousand times before this moment except if it really was a line from a script she couldn’t have put delivered it like she did then with not one acting bone in her body. And the implications of that was something Charlie wanted so badly that it was terrifying to think about.

“Huh,” Charlie said in response and grabbed for the next words in the air. “I know.”

Jo’s intense expression crumbled into an unimpressed one and the air between them shifted back to how things used to be. Charlie breathed. “_Star Wars_? Really?”

“Hey, you can never go wrong with _Star Wars_.”

“Copyright infringement.”

“It’s a reference, Joanna Beth.”

A small drizzle had started by the time they left the bar that soon turned into a downpour. They jog-walked back to Jo’s place but they were still soaked to the bones by the time they made it inside again, safe away from the sudden summer storm. Jo shook her head like a dog and Charlie shrieked, and Jo laughed at her as she ran to her bathroom. Charlie dried off her hair with the towel that Jo provided her, and was patting her arms clean when Jo shuffled closer and gently grabbed a strand of Charlie’s hair.

“Your hair’s getting longer,” she said fondly, brushing down the strand between her fingers’ grasp. She rubbed moisture off her fingertips and all of it happened so quickly that Charlie forgot to breathe.

Charlie reached up and consciously touched where Jo had touched. She shrugged cheekily. “Yeah. I look hot.”

Jo snorted, barely able to contain her smile that soon broke out. “I like that length on you,” she said absently, almost as if she was talking to herself. Charlie’s stomach took an expert dive as she watched Jo go back to drying her own hair.

This was what people must’ve meant when they talk about getting butterflies. There were so many butterflies flapping inside, it was practically migration season in her stomach.

She was also kind of hungry. “We should’ve eaten something at the bar.”

“We can eat the ‘we’re-sorry-about-your-wrist’ bouquet.”

“Sweet.”

Charlie slipped away from the scene to grab the fruit arrangement still on the kitchen counter where she’d left it. She was just walking out of the kitchen when Jo sighed from the living room, struggling to get her jacket off. Before she could say anything else, Charlie looped around to carefully take it off her.

“Thanks,” Jo muttered, obviously frustrated with herself more than anything. She glared at her sprained wrist.

Charlie squirmed with guilt. “You want some fruit?”

“Not really hungry.”

“Did you have dinner?” Jo shook her head. “It’s not every day a star like me brings you a fruit arrangement. You should really take this chance while you still can.”

Jo huffed a laugh. “Sounds like a threat.”

They sat on the floor instead of the couch, because Jo hadn’t closed the window before they left and the couch was soaked. They snacked on the fruit bouquet, with Jo occasionally catching herself at the last minute from reaching for things with her injured hand and looking like she’d murder that elf if he was there. Charlie unhappily looked down at her pineapple daisy, a pang of guilt wringing out all the butterflies from her stomach.

Jo noticed. “What?” she asked needlessly around a bite of strawberry even though she probably knew exactly what Charlie was thinking.

“What?”

“Are you still bothered by this?” Jo gingerly lifted her right arm up. “Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

Charlie chewed on her lips. She sighed. “It’s my fault you got hurt.”

“How? I’m the one who went all stupid and dived into a river.”

Charlie huffed. “If we weren’t pretend-dating, you wouldn’t have had to... You know. Protect me in front of everyone or whatever.” Charlie flushed. “You can’t even go to work.”

“Charlie.” Jo rolled her eyes. “I just got caught in the moment, that’s all. I thought that was the whole point. And anyway, blaming yourself isn’t going to fix it.”

Duh. That should’ve been obvious but here she was, making it all about her instead of Jo’s injury in the first place. Ugh. “Hey, at least I earned you a night out?”

Jo laughed. “True. I had fun.”

Charlie mustered up a smile. Jo glanced down at her wrist. Unsatisfied by whatever she saw on Charlie’s face, she shrugged and held out her arm. “If you feel that bad about it, kiss it better?”

Charlie paused with a pineapple daisy halfway to her mouth, staring at Jo’s crooked grin. Did she think she wouldn’t? She said it like it was almost a dare, like a challenge that Charlie would never actually do. Like something so ridiculously funny and out of possibilities that would surely lighten the sullen mood that had settled in the room.

Was it such a ridiculous idea, that Charlie wanted to kiss Jo?

Charlie gingerly took hold of Jo’s arm. Jo stilled, all the laughter suddenly drained from her face as Charlie lifted Jo’s encased wrist and laid a soft kiss over her own lipstick mark.

Charlie continued, a delightful trill going up her spine at Jo’s sharp intake of a breath when Charlie turned her wrist over to kiss the inside just above Jo’s pulse. She trailed the outline of Jo’s thumb with her lips, laying small kisses accompanied by secret well wishes for her wrist to heal faster. She finished with a gentle kiss inside Jo’s palm, looking up to find Jo’s shocked wide dark brown eyes staring at her with her cheeks ablaze in a lovely shade of red in contrast to her golden locks.

Charlie tugged at Jo’s arm—not hard enough to hurt her any further than she already had—and Jo followed without another word, their faces so close as Charlie leaned towards her with a breath. They were holding hands, she realized distantly, with their hands resting on Charlie’s knee and their fingers weaved over each other. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ears yet she still felt so calm like she had somehow known everything that had happened today was leading up to this exact moment. Only a little further now.

Jo’s hand twitched. “W-wait,” said Jo, and she was so close that Charlie could practically feel the brush of her lips against hers. “Voldemort.”

The word registered like a bucket of cold water poured down her back, elevating her heart rate to a height she didn’t know it could climb to as she froze in place and watched Jo pull away. Jo cleared her throat and her face was still a bright shade of crimson as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear without meeting Charlie’s eyes.

“That was good,” Jo said with a smile that looked out of place. Because Charlie was an idiot who didn’t know how to keep anything in her pants once feelings started pouring out. “You really got the hang of the whole chemistry thing now.”

“Wha.” What the hell was Jo talking about, was what Charlie wanted to say, but of course she knew exactly what she was talking about. Their neat little arrangement. But Charlie was the one who suggested it in the first place, wasn’t she? She looked down at her hands, feeling like she just woke up from a lucid dream.

Crap.

Charlie squeezed her eyes shut, mortified. “Sorry,” she breathed. “Fuck.”

“It’s fine.” Jo frowned. “You alright?”

Charlie should be the one to ask her that. “I—”

She what? She had no intention to kiss her? That wasn’t true, was it; she had every intention to kiss Jo had she consented to it. That it wouldn’t have meant anything? That wasn’t true either. If she had said it a few weeks ago, maybe, but not now. Not anymore.

“I got way too into the moment,” was what she ended up saying as she blinked down at the floor. She laughed, and even to her ears it sounded forced but it was the best she could muster up right then. “That was close, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jo leaned down and forced eye-contact. Charlie almost looked away but Jo frowned with worry. Charlie wondered what Jo would even think if she knew half the things that was going through Charlie’s mind at that moment. “You want a drink? I got water, lemonade, and uhh, probably orange juice.”

Act natural. She should… That was her job. She smiled. “Some water, maybe?”

Jo nodded, and got up quickly with a quick squeeze of Charlie’s shoulder. As soon as Jo left the scene, something loosened in Charlie’s chest and she could breathe again. She could hear her heart almost knocking out of her chest in her ear.

With the glass of water that Jo handed her, she cooled her cheeks against it with a sigh. Jo stared at her strangely and Charlie hoped to god that she hadn’t figured it out with that little display of hers.

_Would it be so bad if she had? _asked a tiny hopeful voice, and Charlie shooed it away.

The rain was really going outside now. A flash of lightning lit up the entire world for a split second followed by a thunderous roar that shook the apartment. Jo leaned against the couch and cocked her head towards the window to listen to the downpour outside as Charlie sipped at her water. Jo stood up and walked to the window to open it, and the room filled with the sound of rain slapping against pavement outside.

Jo hummed. She looked upwards like she could personally identify which of the clouds were causing the rain and ducked back in. “Do you want to stay over?”

Stay over?

“Uh.”

“It’s pouring out,” Jo said. She leaned against the windowpane with her arms crossed and the rain as her backdrop. As if the clouds were agreeing with her, the sky lit up for a split second again with a smaller growl that trailed off into a rumble. She was beautiful like this, lit up against the storm. “It was just the one drink but I’d be the most irresponsible bartender ever if I let you drive in this.”

And here was Charlie, always having berated Odyssey for being so damn clueless about Starlight and yet she had been in love with Jo for who even _knew _how long. “Yeah. Sure.”

Charlie only freaked out a little bit as she changed into her pair of pajamas that she always kept at Jo’s place. How was she supposed to know that best friends could also be in love and not have it feel like how literally every romcoms made it sound, like the ground was falling beneath her feet or her stomach swooping down whenever Jo did something cute or whatever? This thing that she had with Jo was just… second nature to her. It was as obvious to her as breathing, though she supposed some people didn’t really notice that they were breathing until it had been pointed out to them and then it was just a constant recognition until they forgot about it again.

God damn it, now she was conscious of her breathing.

Charlie studied herself in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth. She didn’t… _look _any different from before. She was still herself. There was no physical indication that she had gone through some major life-changing thoughts earlier and she had come out feeling like a different person, mainly in that she now knew what it was like to be in love.

It was way past midnight when Charlie was out of the bathroom and ready for bed. Jo was grabbing another pillow from the hallway closet, and Charlie’s mouth went dry when she realized Jo wasn’t grabbing another blanket for Charlie to use separately. Because they had always shared beds whenever one stayed over at another’s place. She wasn’t sure if she could do that to Jo tonight, especially after…

“I can just sleep on the floor.”

Jo paused. She frowned. “Huh?”

“Yeah. I don’t… I don’t want to accidentally squish your wrist or whatever.”

Jo laughed. “You’re not gonna do that.”

“Trust me, I move. A _lot_.”

“Charles, I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor. It’s not even carpet.”

“But the couch is soggy.”

“Yeah I _know_, which is why I’m offering the bed.”

“But.”

_But I’m in love with you_. She definitely couldn’t say that, not even she hadn’t had time to process it fully for herself.

Charlie sighed. “Okay. If you insist.”

Jo grinned and god, Charlie had seen that grin a thousand times before but now that she was _aware_, it made something lurch inside her chest after all.

Charlie followed after Jo into the bedroom and stared at the empty side of Jo’s bed as Jo shuffled in. Jo stared up at her when Charlie didn’t budge, and she laughed. “The bed’s not gonna bite.”

“I know that,” said Charlie, petulant. She gulped. This was… This had to be what torture felt like. Realizing you were super hardcore into the girl who you’d known practically your entire life and on the same night, sleeping beside her.

Yeah. Torture.

Charlie faced away from Jo so that she wasn’t lovingly gazing at Jo or whatever, on top of sharing a bed with her. As soon as she sunk into the mattress she realized how big of a mistake this was, because _everything _that was touching her smelled like Jo. The bed was warm and cozy from Jo’s body warmth and Charlie refused to think about how nice it felt to be so close to her. She tried to relax but she was vibrating out of her skin, clutching at the sheets (that smelled like Jo) and being as far on the edge of the bed (and away from Jo) as she could possibly manage. Charlie internally sighed. She wasn’t getting much sleep tonight, was she?

Jo shuffled beside her, suddenly determined to face Charlie’s back. Charlie let out a squawk when Jo poked her back.

“Hey.”

Charlie didn’t turn around. “Hi.”

There was a poke again. Another poke.

“What?”

“You gonna look at me anytime soon or what?”

Charlie tentatively turned around. Jo was so _close _and Charlie’s heart felt like it was about to explode. “What?”

Through the window behind Jo the city’s streetlights shone through, illuminating Jo’s outline in the dark. She poked out her face that was previously buried in the blanket and regarded Charlie with a frown. “Is this about before?” she asked.

Charlie’s heart did an interesting dribble of-sort, soaring up and sinking back down at the same time. She was just thankful that Jo was comfortable enough with it to talk about it at all.

“Um. Maybe?” It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“It’s bugging you.”

Charlie squirmed under Jo’s directness. “We didn’t exactly say that was cool to do. I took it too far.”

Jo took a few seconds to decipher this. “We didn’t say it _wasn’t _cool. You backed off when I called it off.” She paused to consider her next words. “You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s your job to be in the moment.”

Charlie shook her head. “Not like that.”

“You still stopped when I said no. That’s all I care about.”

Charlie gulped dryly. “If you say so.”

“I do say so.” Jo smiled warmly. “Back at the bar, you were really cool. I never saw you like that before.”

Charlie was startled into a smile at the unexpected compliment. “You’ve watched me act a hundred times.”

“Yeah, but not up close. It was a lot more intense in person.”

Charlie flushed. Was it that obvious? “Thanks.”

Charlie could feel Jo’s feet an inch away from her own, their knees barely touching with Jo’s body emanating warmth. Charlie wasn’t sure how she kept herself steady when Jo shifted closer, and she twitched in place, itching to reach out and bury herself within Jo’s warmth. Charlie could practically feel how Jo rose and fell as she breathed. They were still not touching.

Charlie wasn’t sure why she asked. She felt safe asking it now. “If I—” Charlie licked her lips and tried again. “Would you have kissed me if you knew I was going to?”

Jo stared at her. Charlie held her breath. “Because we’re pretending to be in love.”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. "Maybe." Her heart beat so fast. "I don't know."

Jo’s eyes widened for a second before she blinked with a frown. She considered this. “I don’t know,” she repeated slowly, and every one of her word felt like a drag of her fingers against Charlie’s skin.

Neither of them spoke.

Jo took in a deep inhale and let it out as a sigh—not a disappointed one, but not content either.

“I don’t want to kiss you when you’re not sure. Even if it’s just for acting,” Jo said, so quietly that if Charlie hadn’t been straining her ears, she wouldn’t have heard her. She smiled softly. “I love you. You mean so much to me. You know that, right?”

Charlie nodded, something tightening inside her chest like a vacuum had sucked all the air out of her lungs. It wasn't uncommon for them to say these things to each other. She only meant that as a best friends way, right?

“I love you too,” said Charlie. In more ways that she could ever imagine.

Jo’s smile transformed into a grin, and she huffed. “Night, Charlie.”

“Night,” Charlie said faintly and watched as Jo shuffled and turned away again.

Charlie stayed very, very still so their backs didn’t accidentally touch. Jo shifted and pressed her back against her, and Charlie stiffened in place. She was… warm. Charlie tried not to think about how the warmth was Jo but it was suddenly way too hot under the covers and suddenly Charlie wasn’t sure how confident she was at keeping up this charade before everything got found out.

They’d been friends for so long that she didn’t even know how it would _ever _work out that way. Jo had always been her best friend—never less, never more. At least, she thought it was never more than Jo being one of the most important people in her life. She really supposed another person’s presence in her life could get more important than that anyway, but it was still wild to her to find out that there was yet _another _way to love Jo.

She was mostly afraid of how much she wanted this, so so much. How much she wanted to press against Jo’s back, how much she wanted to turn around and wrap her arms around her and stroke her beautiful hair, slot their bodies together and sleep like that tonight, every night.

Charlie squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t do this.

* * *

The first thing that came to Charlie’s notice the next morning was a weight on top of her. The other thing was gentle snoring coming from the backside of her neck—something warm and soft pressed in the space between Charlie’s hairline and the neck of her t-shirt. Still blanketed by a warm layer of sleep, Charlie snuggled against the body that was wrapped around her and gave a small sigh at how good it felt.

Then she saw the hand connected to the arm that she was using as a pillow, remembered exactly _whose _arm it was, and Charlie silently prayed to Carrie Fisher that Jo didn’t wake up from the sheer force at which Charlie’s heart was beating now. A small gentle breath brushed against the back of her neck and it was all Charlie could do to not give a full-body shudder.

Somehow in the midst of their sleep, one of Jo’s legs got hooked on top of Charlie so it wasn’t as if she could move in this position without waking Jo up. And what if—what if she scared her by mistake and accidentally hurt her wrist even more?

It was best to just stay absolutely still in this moment and savour it for what it was while she could. Obviously.

It was light outside and the air from the open window had the sort of crispness to it that told of a passed storm, and Charlie focused on keeping her breaths calm and slow so she didn’t do anything rash like reach up to Jo’s unguarded hand and slot her own hand into it. There was a small grumpy groan from behind her and Jo shifted in place, and Charlie quickly squeezed her eyes shut to pretend to be sleeping. It was sweet while it lasted but, well. Oh well.

But the most miraculous thing happened and instead of pulling away to fully wake up, Jo sort of rubbed her nose against the crook of Charlie’s neck once before she pressed it into the space between Charlie and the bed. She shifted in a way that only caused them to be entangled even further, Jo’s arms snaked around Charlie’s mid-rift and her leg fully hooked against Charlie’s hip. Because Charlie was the best fucking actress that deserved a god damn Oscar, she made sure to stay absolutely still akin to a piece of cardboard.

Charlie shut her eyes tight and tried to relax in Jo’s embrace, and somehow, miraculously, she dozed back into sleep. She dreamed about someone gently brushing her hair away from her face. When she woke up the second time, it was to the sound of Jo singing from the kitchen and something that smelled incredible. She slowly rose from bed and walked towards the scene.

Jo never sang loudly in private. Sure, during karaoke nights Jo put many to shame with her sing-alongs, but in the privacy of her kitchen she sang half the song under her breath and hummed the other half, her back still turned to Charlie as she enjoyed this moment by herself. She was illuminating like this, slightly bobbing her head to the tune of sizzling pancakes on the stove as she swayed with the music.

With her heart in her throat, Charlie said, “Morning.”

Jo turned mid-word and grinned, her smile sweet and energetic and wonderful. “Heeey. Decided to wake up, I see.”

Charlie rolled her eyes with a smile. “Pancakes?”

“Uh huh. Can you set the table?”

Jo’s pancakes were delicious, they made small talk, and they exactly as how they should be, save for the underlying current of a new type of love Charlie had discovered for Jo. Jo licked syrup off her fingers and only when Jo commented, “What?” that Charlie shook herself out from staring at her.

“Nothing,” Charlie said. “You’re just so cute, that’s all.”

Jo guffawed. “_Okay_. How did you ever score with any girls? Do they really fall for this?”

Charlie stuck her lips out. “Dude, I got _all _the charms for the ladies.”

“Right.” Jo rolled her eyes fondly. “That’s why you need dating lessons from me.”

“I didn’t need _dating _lessons, I needed _falling in love _lessons,” said Charlie indignantly. “And anyway, I’m shooting that scene tomorrow, so.”

As soon as the words were out, the weight of them sink to the bottom of Charlie’s stomach. She was shooting the love scene tomorrow.

They didn’t need to pretend to be in love anymore.

“Yeah?” Jo said without looking up from her pancakes.

“Yeah.” Charlie pursed her lips. “I think I definitely get it now. Being in love and all that jazz.”

At this, Jo looked up. She slowly chewed on her bite of pancake and swallowed. “Yeah?” she said again.

“Yep. Thanks for doing this with me.” Charlie gave a laugh. “I’ll try to include you in the credits for the episode.”

Jo raised her eyebrows with a small smile. “_Really_?”

“Probably not,” Charlie admitted. “But it was fun while it lasted. Right?”

“Sure.” Jo’s small smile remained, her expression unreadable otherwise. “Any time you need to practice again, let me know.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Maybe Charlie imagined the loaded silence that followed after that. So that was all, huh? This was finished now. It wasn’t like she was never going to see Jo after this again. Back to being Charlie and Jo, the usual duo.

She played with her pancake crumbs and it gently shocked her to realize that she was _disappointed_. Not even a sliver of wistfulness from Jo.

It was stupid, obviously. She shouldn’t have expected… Well, anything, really. Besides, it wasn’t as if they did a _whole _lot differently. Honestly? She was content with this, this pancakes for breakfast thing they always had going on, no end of laughter in sight, et cetera.

It was weird. The rest of the morning went by in a flurry like someone had suddenly pressed fast forward and then Charlie was just… standing in Jo’s doorway, ready to leave like nothing had happened.

Except nothing _had _happened. A lot of things _happened_, but nothing actually _happened _happened.

Jo saw her off with a smile, her arms crossed together with her cast sticking out like a, well, a sore wrist. “Thanks for all the help yesterday,” she said.

Charlie paused in the middle of tying her bootlaces on the floor and looked up to Jo’s face hovering above her. She grinned up. Instead of giving into her urges to lean against Jo’s legs, she said, “Thanks for being in love with me.”

Jo blinked. After a beat, she smiled with a shrug. No big deal. “Good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

Charlie didn’t turn to look if Jo had closed the door behind her. She couldn’t see anything from the elevator and Charlie stared at the elevator display that told her which floor she was at, every number that counted down taking her further away from Jo. 

Every step she took in the parking lot was a reminder. It was over. It was over. It was over, and Charlie would go right back to pretending to be not in love with Jo, and Jo would buy it. Because Jo had no clue, because Charlie was a world-class actor, because Charlie would never let herself slip up again.

She drove in her bright yellow car, vaguely paying attention to the road on her way home as she simmered in the silence. She gave an involuntary heave at the thought of entering her empty apartment. Maybe once she got home, she’d make herself a nice cup of hot chocolate and sit down with tomorrow’s script. Make sure she had everything down to a tee, sort of thing. She stared up at a red traffic light and the blue sky with its white plump clouds above it, and her steering wheel vibrated underneath her tight grip.

“Starlight,” she rehearsed.

_Yeah_?

“You’ve been by my side all this time through… everything.” She gave a pause. “But what we’re about to face, it’s nothing like what we’ve faced before. You could be hurt.”

_I’m tougher than your entire squadron combined, Princess. _

“I know that.” Odyssey knew more than anyone else just how strong she was. “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

Charlie licked her dry lips. This red light was very long. After this light, she would be on the highway back to her empty place and she’d lose her chance to turn back to Jo’s. She finally understood what Odyssey was going on about.

“If there’s even a chance of you…” Charlie swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat. “I can’t lose you.”

_I’m not gonna leave you, dummy, _said Jo in her mind with a smile, casual and confident and beautiful.

The light turned green. The car in front of her shifted forward, and there was no turning back after this point if she followed. Charlie gripped onto her wheel tightly.

She trusted Jo.

Whatever happened, she trusted in them.

Charlie took a U-turn.

* * *

Charlie insistently knocked on Jo’s door, and only stopped when she heard a faint “_I’m coming! Jesus,_” from inside. There was a small lull where Jo presumably looked out the peeping hole to check who it was that was so eagerly banging on her door, and the door opened to reveal a very puzzled Jo. “Charlie?”

“Hey,” Charlie said breathlessly. The elevator took too long so she’d run up the stairs. May have not been the best idea.

“Did you forget something?” Jo looked into her house. Upon noticing how out of breath Charlie was, she frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Charlie replied with a breath. With another breath, she said, “Jo, I love you.”

Jo quirked an eyebrow. She smiled. “Okaay. I love you, too. You wanna come in?”

Charlie walked forward, and at first Jo moved aside thinking Charlie wanted to come in, but Charlie was quicker and held Jo’s hands. Jo stilled and blinked down at their conjoined hands.

“Uh,” Jo said.

“Jo,” Charlie said with wide eyes, and she probably looked half out of her mind at the moment but that was to be expected. “I’m like, in love with you.”

Jo stared at Charlie. Charlie held her breath with her heart drumming crazily. Probably should’ve taken the elevator. Jo gave a strangled laugh. Charlie’s stomach dropped. Oh no.

“I thought we were done pretending,” Jo said. “Or is this last-minute practice?”

Oh. Right.

“I’m not pretending,” Charlie said with a squeeze of Jo’s hands. Jo didn’t step away, but she looked a bit winded like _she _was the one who ran up four flights of stairs. “It was always there. I just… I never noticed it until we put a label to it and it kinda hit me in the face. Loving you is the easiest thing in the world and, and I love you on top of all the, you know, other love that I have for you.”

The words were out, and Charlie took a breath, and the words hovered in the air between them.

“Oh,” Jo said quietly.

Charlie waited for the words to sink in. Jo was very still, but she didn’t pull away.

“And—and it’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” Charlie continued. “I don’t care if it’s never reciprocated the same way or whatever. Well, I do, but that shouldn’t be on you to deal with. Um, I just… thought you should know. I wanted you to. Know how loved you are. I thought that’d be nice.” Charlie’s tongue suddenly felt numb. Her logic to confess to Jo had made _total_ sense just moments ago and now seemed like a horrible, horrible idea. “Um.”

Jo didn’t say anything else except to stare at Charlie’s chin like her best friend being in love with her was too much to handle and she had blue-screened. Charlie swallowed dryly and decided that hey, maybe this was enough for today.

“Okay,” Charlie said with a forced smile. “Anywayyyy. Glad we had this talk. I’m gonna, uh, skedaddle now.”

“What?” Jo snapped out of her trance, and miraculously, pulled Charlie even _closer_. “_No_. What?”

Charlie blinked. “What?”

“You can’t just drop this on me and leave me alone to deal with it by myself.”

“Uh.”

Their faces were really, really close. Jo carefully lifted her hand up to Charlie’s cheek, hovering close enough for Charlie to feel the heat from her hand but not quite touching. Charlie closed the small gap and leaned into Jo’s palm, and she physically felt Jo jump a little from surprise.

Charlie smiled widely.

Jo’s eyes roamed back down to Charlie’s chin which Charlie now realized was her looking down at her lips actually, and at that moment Charlie couldn’t help but notice how kissable Jo’s lips looked at this distance. 

“You love me, huh?” Jo said quietly, and it was the way she said it that made Charlie’s heart almost burst from happiness, like she almost couldn’t believe what she had heard, like she was wondering out loud to check if this was real or not. Charlie nodded enthusiastically and their noses almost brushed against each other at how close they were standing. “Since when did you…?”

“Does it matter?”

“Uh, _yeah_.” Jo’s arm was around Charlie’s waist by then, and Charlie reflexively put her arms around Jo. “It's been _years _for me and all it took was what, serve you breakfast after a sleepover?”

“I mean, it was a bit more than that,” Charlie said breathlessly, this time having nothing to do with stairs. “Wait, years?”

Jo flushed a bright red and god, _god_, what a blessing it was to have such a sight in front of her. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, no.” Charlie grinned, suddenly feeling extra confident and _awesome_. “Do tell.”

“Charrrlieeee,” Jo groaned. “We could be kissing right now and that’s what you want to focus on?”

“Oh.” Charlie’s brain short-circuited for a split second. “Oh, well then.”

There was a pause, and they all but burst from laughing too hard with tears forming at the corners of their eyes even as Jo pulled them back into her apartment. There was nothing funny about the moment, but suddenly it was downright ridiculous just how long it took them to get to this point and that, _that _was hilarious. Jo leaned her forehead against Charlie’s shoulder as she shook with laughter, and Charlie shook her head in mock disapproval when Jo finally came up for a breath, her cheeks red and her hair slightly messy and a big red spot on her forehead where she had it resting against Charlie’s shoulder, and she was beautiful like this.

Charlie’s back was gently pressed against Jo’s front door and Jo’s face was her whole worldview right then. She pursed her lips and asked innocently, “So can we kiss now?”

Jo broke into a full grin, and Charlie mirrored it. “You couldn’t have kissed me any sooner.”

And then Jo was leaning, and Charlie’s brain caught up to speed and Charlie leaned too. It was almost overwhelming, the way their lips slotted into each other and thrill went up Charlie’s back, the kiss slow and sure, how sure of each other and sure of _this _they were, and it turned into two, three, four kisses that closed up whatever distance that was left between them. Charlie knew theoretically that it’d be a trip to kiss Jo but she hadn’t expected the experience to be so _intense_ like she’d been shocked into existence with Jo’s lips, and she savoured every kiss like a parched person in the middle of a desert cherishing every drop of rain that came unexpected.

Jo broke off a kiss that had started to involve heavier pettings, and dropped her head onto Charlie’s shoulder with a groan. “Don’t you have an early flight for your shoot tomorrow?” she mumbled, her arm still tightly wound around Charlie’s waist.

“And miss our moment?” Charlie dropped small kisses onto Jo’s neck, and Jo let out a small content sigh. “Hell no. ”

Jo gave up the pretence of a responsible adult and turned her face to catch Charlie’s lips, and she deepened the kiss that had Charlie gasp against her lips as Jo pushed her into the door with her fingers carded through Charlie’s hair. Charlie blinked, blissfully boneless from just that.

“I,” Charlie declared, “am the luckiest lesbian alive right now.”

Jo laughed, and agreed with another sweet kiss.

And that sound, more than anything, meant the world.

* * *

“‘Charlie Bradbury rocks it out of the park with an emotional delivery fit for a lifelong love in the latest episode of _Space Princess Odyssey_’,” read Charlie as she rolled over on the couch. “Dude, I rock.”

“And who do you have to thank?” Jo asked, looking down at Charlie whose head was resting on Jo’s lap.

Charlie hummed. “Myself?” she said innocently.

Jo raised her eyebrows, and Charlie laughed as she hooked her arms behind Jo’s neck to drag her down. She gave her a light kiss against pliant lips. “And of course, my beautiful—” Charlie said with a kiss, “—wonderful—” she kissed her cheek, “—_awesome _girlfriend,” she finished with a kiss on the tip of Jo’s nose.

Jo hummed with pouty lips but even she couldn’t contain the smile that spilled out from underneath her frown. “Alright,” she said flippantly, still acting the petulant girlfriend, “I’ll take it.”

Charlie laughed. “Oh, good. Wouldn’t know what I’d do with myself if you didn’t forgive me.”

Jo gasped with mock shock, and without warning she leaned down and lightly nipped at Charlie’s nose. Charlie shrieked and they squirmed on the couch, tumbling and laughing until they were both somehow squeezed together on Charlie’s couch like that. Jo snapped her teeth at Charlie’s face like a shark and Charlie, barely breathing from laughing too hard, held Jo back with her hand over Jo’s face.

“Okay, okay, _stop_!” Charlie practically screamed. “I give, I give!”

Jo tilted her head back and laughed triumphantly with her arms clutched around Charlie as she did so. Still laughing, she buried her face into the space between Charlie’s chin and chest. When she looked up, it was with a grin. “I win,” she said, her eyes sparkling with glee.

Charlie shook her head fondly with a smile. “I love you.”

“I—” Jo paused, and with the most shit-eating grin ever, she said, “I know.”

Charlie gasped. “That’s _my _thing!”

Jo stuck her tongue out, and the sight filled her with so much affection that Charlie all but tackled her with a kiss, with another kiss, with a thousand and millions of kisses to follow after that as laughter filled the air between them.

Finally.


End file.
